Fiber reinforced resin laminates may be consolidated prior to and/or during curing in order to eliminate voids and other inconsistencies in the cured part. Consolidation may be achieved by applying pressure to the uncured laminate using vacuum bagging and/or autoclaving processes. In some cases, a caul plate is placed between the vacuum bag and certain areas of the laminate such as a radius, in order to assure that the applied pressure is evenly distributed over these areas. In some part geometries, regions of low pressure may exist over the part for any of a variety of reasons, such as bridging of the vacuum bag over certain features of the part. These low pressure areas may result in a “bow wave” being generated in the outer plies of the laminate, in which an out-of-plane wave of the plies is forced from regions of high pressure to the regions of the low pressure mentioned above. Bow waves are undesirable because they result in out-of-plane fiber distortions that may cause voids in the laminate.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and a device for reducing bow waves in fiber reinforced resin laminates during consolidation, particularly those that may occur near the edge of a radius in the laminate. There is also a need for reducing regions areas of low pressure on the laminate caused by bridging of a vacuum bag.